A young adult Jehovah's Witness with severe anemia.
case_report · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23958767.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1542/peds.2013-0503.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Two of the most ethically complex situations in pediatrics are those involving families whose religious beliefs preclude the provision of life-sustaining treatment and those involving young adults who have reached the age of legal majority and who face decisions about life-sustaining treatment. This month's "Ethics Rounds" presents a case in which these 2 complexities overlapped. An 18-year-old Jehovah's Witness with sickle cell disease has life-threatening anemia. She is going into heart failure. Her doctors urgently recommend blood transfusions. The young woman and her family adamantly refuse. Should the doctors let her die? Is there any alternative?
Medical subject headings
- Anemia, Sickle Cell
- Blood Transfusion
- Ethics, Medical
- Heart Failure
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Religion and Medicine
- Treatment Refusal